This is the first part of an exclusive two-part interview held earlier this week with Penn State acting athletic director Dave Joyner.
Penn State’s acting athletic director, Dave Joyner, has deep roots with Penn State and State College.
He was an all-state football player and PIAA wrestling champion at State High.
Joyner finished second in the 1971 NCAA wrestling championships at heavyweight for Penn State and was a co-captain for the football team, which finished 11-1 that year.
He had been a member of Penn State’s Board of Trustees since 2000. But, after the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal hit, Joyner was thrust into a new role on Nov. 16 – the temporary job of overseeing the massive Penn State athletic department.
He stepped in shortly after long-time AD Tim Curley, another State High grad, went on administrative leave to fight perjury charges, and he has been on the job for almost six months.
Joyner, a former surgeon and businessman who has had some failed business ventures in the past, is being paid an annual base salary of $396,000 as he guides Penn State’s athletic programs through the most tumultuous period in its history.
Ron Musselman, editor-in-chief of StateCollege.com, had the opportunity to sit down with Joyner on Wednesday to discuss his half-year as acting AD.
StateCollege.com: The past six months have been tough for Penn State football and the athletic department. There are going to be more tough days ahead. As acting AD, what have you done to help everyone get through it?
Joyner: I think the department’s holding up very well. Obviously, it’s been tough. I think what we’ve done to get through this is, from the beginning, with our folks is tell them, ‘The way you get through this is you pay attention to what your mission is and you keep doing your mission.’
And our mission is to educate fine men and women, both on and off the field, and do it with integrity, and win national championships. Integrity, academics and national championships are our mission. That obviously relates to our ‘Success with Honor.’
We are focused on that and paying attention to that. There obviously are a high level of other things that are going on that are part of this that aren’t the norm for everyday intercollegiate athletics. But I think the evidence of how our coaches and athletes have responded with their performances the past six months has been incredible.
StateCollege.com: Any talk about you becoming permanent AD? Do you want the job? Have you talked to President Rodney Erickson about it?
Joyner: We’ve had discussions about it, Dr. Erickson and I, and I’ve relayed to him that I’m ready to serve in any capacity they want me to, and if called upon, I’d be willing to serve long-term. And that’s about where it sits right now, because there’s obviously lots of other things going on around here.
StateCollege.com: President Erickson has said the university plans to honor former coach Joe Paterno. Have you talked to the Paterno family recently? I heard there may be a patch on your uniforms this fall. Is there anything in the works in regards to that?
Joyner: First off, we made the (patch) available to our people and our teams early on. I think you saw it with our basketball team. Wrestling’s a little tough because the patch gets torn off. We’ve reached out to our coaches and let them makes those decisions. I think you’ve seen that it’s been a positive response.
I don’t know about any direct discussions with the Paterno family, because that happens at Old Main. What I do know is that President Erickson has said at the right time, we’ll figure out how to do something.
StateCollege.com: Have you talked to former wide receivers coach Mike McQueary or former athletic director Tim Curley? How long will they remain on the payroll?
Joyner: That, I don’t know. I haven’t talked to either one of them. That again rests with our decision-making folks at Old Main. They have to figure out how that all fits together.
StateCollege.com: How did you end up being the acting AD?
Joyner: It came out of the clear blue sky. There was something in the Philadelphia paper that said, ‘Dave Joyner is going to be Penn State’s new AD.’ Nobody had talked to me about it or anything at that point, and I had never even expressed interest in the job. I mentioned it to President Erickson after a board meeting kind of tongue-in-cheek and he said, ‘Well, will you do that?’ I said, ‘Yes.’
I felt a commitment to the university and an obligation to help anywhere I could. So, for me, it was an easy decision to try and help this university get through a tough time.
StateCollege.com: You may be the only AD in the country at a BCS school who also is an orthopedic surgeon. Do you really think you have the proper credentials for overseeing a department that has an annual operating budget of $116 million and made a profit of $53 million in 2010-11?
Joyner: I’ve got well over a 25-year history with the U.S. Olympic committee in capacities of leading teams. I was head physician, and being the head physician means you are in sports medicine, so you’re integrating performance services, i.e., strength and conditioning with administration. My background is a great training ground for me here.
I have been to seven Olympic games in various capacities. It’s obviously a huge organization, so I’ve had to lead and take care of 5,000 athletes. And there are huge budgets and big processes you go through. I sat on the Board of Trustees; that budget is $4 billion. So, I’m around budgets. I’ve lived with large budgets.
I’ve been on the board of directors of the Hershey Medical Center – that’s a $1 billion budget, and so I deal with budgets all the time. I’ve had private businesses and my own consulting business where I had to deal with those issues as COO (chief operating officer) of a very successful company coming into this job.
Related coverage:
